


Welcome to the Stars

by Tallihensia



Category: Smallville
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-20
Updated: 2009-07-20
Packaged: 2017-11-01 14:37:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/357935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallihensia/pseuds/Tallihensia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lex fights with Clark to get to the moon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** Only mine in my dreams. ^^ This story was written for free entertainment purposes only and may not be reproduced for profit or altered without permission.
> 
>  **Warnings:** none
> 
>  **Spoilers:** none
> 
>  **Notes:** Happy 40th Moon Landing! (Written in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing, posted on that day.)  
> (As usual, I go AU after season 2. Not that it really matters, but... fyi)

# Welcome to the Stars

"That's it, Luthor! Your villainy stops here." Clark felt slightly ridiculous saying it with a globe around his head and no immediate villainy in sight, but he was *pissed*. For the last four days, Luthor had been taking him on wild goose chases from one end of the Earth to the other, always wiggling out and slipping away just as Superman got near. Finally, Clark had caught up to him... on the Moon.

"Shut up for a moment and come and look at this." Luthor stood tall on the hill, his purple and black spacesuit blending in with the stars behind him. Even after 10 years, he was still slender and lean, a commanding presence by the force of his personality alone.

"Luthor, I'm warning you—"

"Seriously, shut up." Lex didn't turn around, but he held out his hand in a gesture that was somewhere between imperious and inviting.

With a sigh, Clark walked over. Or tried to. One would think that being able to fly would let him master low-gravity walking without a problem. But no, that was too much to ask for. Clark tripped over his own feet and ended up in moon dust for what felt like the twentieth time that day.

"Why don't you just fly?" Lex had finally turned around and was watching him with open curiosity. Clark was relieved to see the curiosity; if there had been any sign of mocking or laughter, that might have been the last straw.

Getting to his feet again, Clark slightly bounced on his toes, trying to get a feel for the lighter gravity. He wasn't going to answer, but there was Lex looking at him, and they were on the *Moon*... "It's the Moon. We're standing here on the *Moon*. Flying... wouldn't make it real."

Lex's smile was brighter than the sun. Clark stood where he was, caught in it and the memories.

"Come here, Clark," Lex whispered, his hand still out in invitation, the imperiousness dropped from his manner.

It was the name that broke him. Lex hadn't called that in years. Clark walked forward, his steps loping through the lunar dust and his heart almost as light.

When he reached where Lex was standing, Clark reached out and touched Lex's gloved hand.

"Look out there," Lex said softly, staring across the moonscape. "Tell me what you see."

Wrenching his attention off Lex, Clark looked. And he drew in his breath. He'd lost track of where they were, his focus on chasing down Lex. There below them was an old lunar module... "Is that...?"

"The Sea of Tranquility, Mare Tranquillitatis," Lex replied calmly. "We have a beautiful view here, don't you think?"

Clark punched him on the arm, gently. "Asshole."

Lex laughed. "Well, it is." His mood shifted serious. "Can you read the plaque?"

Scanning the area, Clark saw a small squat panel array a short ways from the module. He focused his gaze on it, but all he saw was smooth surfaces and instrumentation. "Where is it?"

"It's on the ladder of the module." Lex was calm on the surface, but Clark could sense the underlying tension, practically vibrating.

Refocusing his gaze, Clark finally saw it. "Here, men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D." Softly, Clark read it out loud. "We came in Peace for all Mankind."

"40 years," Lex said just as quietly.

The sense of wonder was strong around them. "I'm standing on the Moon," Clark whispered.

Lex turned to him, amused. "You've stood here several times."

"Yes, but..." It didn't matter how often, it was still wondrous, miraculous – the farm boy from Kansas standing on the place of his dreams. It didn't matter that he was really an alien from another planet; this sense of wonder was what he'd grown up on. The shuttle missions, the sense of reaching out, stepping out beyond what they could be. "40 years."

Clark looked around the Apollo 11 base module, seeing the items they'd tossed out to lighten the load before the upper half took off again. After 40 years, there wasn't a lot left of some of it. Neil Armstrong's space suit and two pairs of space boots. Canisters, bags, medals and discs. He could see all the footprints in the area, a regular path in the dust. He couldn't tell which was the famous one. Practically, Clark supposed they *all* were. "Where's the flag?" The famous flag wasn't in sight.

Lex shrugged. "It was too close and toppled over when they took off. I don't imagine there's a lot left of it after 40 years of solar radiation. That's why future... further?... the subsequent Apollo missions planted their flags at least 100 feet away."

"What's that panel array over there? That's about 100 feet..."

"The lunar laser ranging retroreflector array," Lex explained. "One of the few original experiments still functioning. It basically 'pings' the Earth with location and distance information."

They watched the unchanging landscape for a long time.

Eventually, Clark stopped looking at the module and studied the person standing next to him. Lex didn't move; just stood there silently, his gaze never wavering from the scene before them.

Clark remembered when Lex had taken him to the Planetarium in Metropolis. It was the most exciting thing a sixteen year old Clark could have imagined. Finding out about his origins hadn't stopped him from admiring human ingenuity, and at sixteen, his humanity was still a lot more real to him. They'd stayed at the Planetarium all day. Lex, for all that he'd been there many times before, was just as interested as Clark. He knew all the details, was involved in the exhibits, and his eyes never got bored while they watched the videos.

"Is that what all this was about?" Clark asked softly. He didn't want to break their rapport, but when he thought about the last several days...

Lex quirked a grin without missing a beat. "It was fun. Countdown for the Apollo 11 started July 14. They launched July 16."

Clark rolled his eyes. Yes, that *was* what this was all about. Four days of him chasing Lex all over the world... "What was this, some giant game of tag for you?" Clark couldn't help still being a bit angry.

"Would you have come if I'd simply asked?" Lex bent over and placed a rock on the ground. It looked exactly like all the other rocks. Which only made sense as it was.

"You stole a moon rock, to put it back on the moon?"

"I stole a moon rock to give you an excuse to come out here. Don't worry, I'll bring them back a new one." Lex picked up a different rock, one that looked identical to the first, only varying in shape.

Clark bent over and picked up the first one. It was lighter than pumice, here on the moon. "I would have come, if you had asked."

"It's been a quarter of those 40 years," Lex said, no longer talking about the moon landing.

"Not quite. And it doesn't matter."

"Doesn't it?" Lex gazed at him with those intense eyes that in this light were almost the same grey as the moon. On Earth, they were usually more blue. Here, though... here, other things were possible.

"They put a man on the Moon. Using technology that we wouldn't use for our home computers. Using human ingenuity and determination. Three men, from Earth to the Moon." Clark didn't quite touch Lex. "I think we can change, if we want to."

"Those three men had thousands of others behind them, supporting them, working with them, preparing their way, guiding them, cheering them on. A world watched them."

"I'm tired of the world watching me. But I don't mind you watching me."

That took Lex by surprise, Clark could tell. This time, Clark did touch Lex, feeling the smooth plastic of the suit. So little between Lex and death. So little protecting him. But Lex never gave any consideration to trivial things like that. He wanted to come to the Moon for the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, and so he came. And Lex made sure that Clark came too.

"Lex, if you wanted it, we could have the stars."

Lex's features softened into a smile, relaxing their usual lines. "But would you let me have them?"

"To share."

"I don't like sharing."

"Tough." Clark drew the touch down until he was holding Lex's gloved hand.

Lex watched him hungrily. It wasn't an answer... and yet it was, in Lex's own way.

"Welcome to the stars, Lex," Clark whispered, and looked up to the Earth.

  


* * *

  


END

**Author's Note:**

> There's a, I think Silver? Age comic wherein Superman is chasing Luthor around trying to figure out what the heck Luthor is up to. He finally catches up to him and realizes that for once Luthor wasn't actually up to anything - he was celebrating Albert Einstein's birthday by trying to recreate parts of his life. They end up going through the Albert Einstein museum together before Superman hauls Luthor off to jail, Luthor saying it was worth it. So that's where part of this came from, recreated for modern-day moon-landing anniversary and our modern-day Clark and Lex. ^^


End file.
